As the calendar flips to February, the Olympic trade freeze is fast approaching with the trade deadline itself not long after. We saw a couple of swaps happen this week while a star player is being held out; those are among the week’s key stories.
Islanders Start To Add: The Islanders find themselves in third place in the Metropolitan Division at the start of the month and GM Mathieu Darche has rewarded his group with a pair of additions. First, they picked up defenseman Carson Soucy from the Rangers for a third-round pick, giving their back end some extra depth with Alexander Romanov out for the rest of the regular season. Then, they made another cross-state swap, acquiring winger Ondrej Palat plus third and sixth-round picks from the Devils for winger Maxim Tsyplakov. Palat gives the Isles some extra veteran depth with a good track record of playoff success but they’re also taking on his $6MM contract through next season which is why they also added some draft picks. With several other players out for the season, New York still has ample LTIR room to try to further add to their group.
Wallstedt In Play? Minnesota has already made one swap of considerable significance this season when they added Quinn Hughes from Vancouver. It appears GM Bill Guerin isn’t done on the trade front and is open to moving a key youngster to do so as multiple reports have suggested that goaltender Jesper Wallstedt could be dealt. The 23-year-old was a first-round pick back in 2021 and is in his first full NHL season where he has impressed, posting a 2.72 GAA with a .913 SV%. However, with Filip Gustavsson signed through 2031, Wallstedt may have more value to the Wild as a trade chip than as a promising backup goaltender.
Panarin Out For Roster Reasons: With the Rangers embarking on a retool, they won’t be re-signing veteran winger Artemi Panarin. Rather than risk him getting injured before they can trade him, the team decided to sit him early as a healthy scratch although no move has come to fruition just yet. Panarin is believed to be seeking a contract extension before he’ll sign off on a move, something that could take a lot of the usual buying contenders off the table. With a cap charge of $11.643MM (New York can retain up to half in a trade), it may be difficult for New York to move Panarin before Wednesday’s roster freeze as the acquiring team may not want to take on that money for three weeks before he actually debuts. Accordingly, it’s possible that this trade saga is still a few weeks away from being resolved.
Defense Extensions: A pair of blueliners at opposite ends of their careers received contract extensions this past week. First, the Avalanche signed Sam Malinski to a four-year, $19MM extension, a big raise on his current $1.4MM price tag. The 27-year-old is having a breakout year with 25 points in 53 games despite averaging less than 17 minutes per game. With the signing, Colorado has five blueliners signed for next season at just under $30MM combined. Meanwhile, Detroit locked up Ben Chiarot on a new three-year, $11.55MM deal, a small cut on his $4.75MM deal that’s about to expire. The 34-year-old is holding down a regular spot on Detroit’s second pairing while being a physical shot blocker. It’s likely that his playing time will tick down as the contract progresses but the deal now ensures they’ll have a fourth blueliner signed for next season with Simon Edvinsson still to sign as a key pending restricted free agent.
Done For The Season: It has been a rough last few seasons on the injury front for Canucks goaltender Thatcher Demko. Unfortunately for him, a hip injury has ended his season prematurely as he’s set to undergo surgery. Demko has battled knee, groin, and hip issues in recent years, limiting him to just 126 games since 2022-23. On top of that, Vancouver acted quickly to sign him last summer and he’ll begin a new three-year deal next season at a cap hit of $8.5MM. Veteran Kevin Lankinen will be leaned on down the stretch while youngster Nikita Tolopilo will likely get his first extended NHL look for a Canucks squad that’s already dead last in the standings.
Photo courtesy of Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images.
Only one HUGE problem with the wild trading Wally and everyone seems to be looking over it and that is that there is absolutely no one in the Wild l’s system that is anywhere near NHL caliber to back up Gus if that happened.
If there was I might be able to see them doing it but not without a backup